I'm pleased to allow Nancy Cole Silverman to take over Cozy Up With Kathy today. Nancy writes the Kat Lawson Mystery series. A Spy in Saigon is the fourth book in the series.
By Nancy Cole Silverman
It wasn’t until I retired from a career in talk radio—where I had broken the glass ceiling and was one of the only women in the country to run a sports talk radio station—that I decided it was time to go home and write mysteries. But after twenty-five years working in a predominantly old-boys’ club, I wasn’t about to write a mystery with a male lead. Despite being a big fan of Lee Child’s books about Jack Reacher and Jeffery Deaver’s Colter Shaw series, where were the women? Couldn’t there be a lone, female protagonist who could save the day?
I’m not talking about a female superhero with a black belt in Karate who can take down five burly men in an alley fight–I didn’t want to write about a cartoon character, but about a real woman. A strong, single, intelligent female lead with more brains than brawn. A woman with enough real-life experience to know how to sidestep a bad situation, who isn’t shy about using her feminine wiles to navigate complex social situations and come out on top. Someone as flawed as she was driven. I’ve met such women in business—and Kat Lawson embodies them all—mid-forties, attractive, widowed, and divorced. A disgraced investigative reporter, fired from her last job due to an inappropriate workplace relationship. I’ll spare the details—heavy sex happens best off page and in the mind of the reader—but suffice to say, Kat’s boss was promoted, while she was fired and forced to find other employment. This left her desperate for a job, working as a feature reporter for Journey International, a cover operation for the FBI, where, on assignment, Kat is asked to make an occasional delivery.
Things, of course, never go as planned, and every protagonist needs a sidekick to help move the plot along. The Lone Ranger had Tonto, the Rifleman had his son, and if we go far enough back to Gunsmoke, Matt Dillon, in addition to Doc and Chester, had Miss Kitty. Alas, a woman! But even she was a woman behind the man, and not the lead. So, while I wanted to create a strong female character, I also needed to craft a sidekick who would be enough like Kat and yet different enough to be a constant source of entertainment and struggle. Enter Sophie Brill, Kat’s handler; sixty-five, a retired art historian, member of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, and publisher of Journey International. Kat is Sophie’s eyes and ears on the ground, while Sophie is Kat’s sole contact while abroad, and fortunately, or unfortunately, as the case may be, only a phone call away.
Each of Kat’s adventures takes place in a different country, one I’ve visited, and as a former journalist, I have spent a lot of time researching. A Spy in Saigon is set in Vietnam, and the country is much more than just a backdrop for a good story. The area became as much of a character as Kat was on the page, with mysteries of its own and a history that would haunt me. Little did I know, when I first started writing, just how much of my own history was about to unfold.
Writing a spy novel set in a foreign country linked to a historical period required digging into the archives, studying the customs and daily life of Vietnam, and understanding the complexities of espionage during both the war and much later. It enabled me to create a cast of characters that reflected the moral ambiguity and shifting allegiances of that era and today. When I finished writing and rewriting, I set the book aside. Did I truly want to share this story? Things I knew and researched were no longer front-page news. Was the past sometimes better left undisturbed? I didn’t have clear answers. However, I wanted my readers to think about history, politics, and the nature of truth, and to consider the real sacrifices and dilemmas faced by those living through extraordinary times.
Thank you for reading A Spy in Saigon. It was a story inspired by faith, forgiveness, and love.
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A Spy in Saigon: A Kat Lawson Mystery by Nancy Cole Silverman
About A Spy in Saigon
Mystery 4th in Series
Setting - Vietnam
Publisher : Level Best Books
Publication Date: November 25, 2025
Paperback Print Length: 230 pages
The truth will set you free – or it will kill you.Kat Lawson’s new undercover assignment has turned deadly. A trip to Vietnam to write a travel feature for Journey International while making a drop to deliver cash and passports for a top-secret operation has gone awry. Kat has a choice to make and a target on her back. She can live with a secret, or she can reveal a truth that puts her in the crosshairs of an enemy sworn to kill her. With the lives of trafficked children at stake in a country where agents and double agents trade secrets, Kat must choose between the acceptance of a truth that will forever change her life or living a lie that will save the lives of others.
About Nancy Cole Silverman
After 25 years in news and talk radio, Nancy Cole Silverman retired to write fiction. Her crime-focused novels have attracted readers throughout America, and her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. Silverman writes the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries (Henry Press) and the Kat Lawson Mysteries (Level Best Books). For more detailed information, visit www.nancycolesilverman.com
Author Links:
Website www.nancycolesilverman.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/nancy.cole.silverman.2025
Purchase Link - Amazon
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